No. 35.

NOVEMBER, 1815.

No: 11. Voi. LII.

NOTICE.

▲ NEW SERIES OF THIS WORK TO BEGIN WITH THE NEXT YEAR.

WHEN the present Volume of our work is com pleted, our Readers will find it an inconvenient thickness for its small size, as it will contain upward of 700 pages. But we have occasion continually to regret, that even this extent of our matter will not enable us to embrace all the interesting intelligence respecting the progress of Truth and Righteousness upon the earth, which crowds in upon us from various quarters.

Our design was, to give the details of the Church Missionary Society, and all the leading transactions of similar Institutions. We have accomplished this object in a great degree; and our readers will do us the justice to allow that we have endeavoured to record the proceedings, and have triumphed in the success, of all the benevolent Institutions which come within the range of our work.. Yet we have „not been able, for want of room, to realize all the parts of our plan. Much important matter has been deferred, which, we are confident, would tend to the perfection of our design as to the benefit of our readers.

Anxious, therefore, to render our work an impartial and an adequate Register of the extended

efforts which are making for the evangelizing of the world, we shall bring all the articles of the present Volume to a close in the next Number; and, with the year 1816, shall begin a New Series, to be printed in demy 8vo. double columns, in the usual manner of monthly works. A much greater quantity of matter will be given; while the increased size of the page will offer a better opportunity of furnishing a series of Missionary Maps, on which we shall enter with all convenient speed.

The Committee of the Church Missionary Society will continue to give a copy of this work, as well as its Annual Reports, to all persons who shall collect on its behalf to the amount of 1s. per week : and the extent of the circulation which this work has now attained, will enable us to sell the improved series at the present price of 6d. per Number to purchasers.

Home Proceedings.

CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

WE quoted, in our last, from the Fifteenth Report of the Society, an important statement respecting the design of the Society to complete the Persian, Arabic, and Hindoostanee Translations of the Scriptures, already in part effected by its Members and Friends.

We shall here print, with much pleasure, the Letter on this subject from a distinguished Scholar, to which we alluded in our last. It is addressed

to the Secretary of the Society, and contains a powerful

Appeal to the Younger Clergy, on the Subject of the Oriental Versions.

Rev. Sir

TO THE REV. JOSIAH PRATT.

It has ever been with me a matter of regret, that a greater degree of zeal for promoting Translations of the Holy Scriptures does not manifest itself generally among our Clergy, and especially among the younger Members of that body. I know of no pursuit whatever, that can promise higher satisfaction or greater advantages: a pursuit that has the salvation of myriads for its object, and the sure approbation of the Almighty for its reward.

We exult, and are thankful, for the late glorious suc cesses of our fellows in arms; and step forward joyfully with our mite to alleviate the sufferings of the afflicted: but do we manifest the same zeal, where the conflict is not so much' to conquer, as to save? where the object of our warfare is to diminish the empire of Death, and to dispense life and light throughout the world?-Access has been given to us, by the prowess of our arms, or the enterprising spirit of our Merchants, to almost every shore; and the eager calls for the Scriptures, heard from every quarter of the world, loudly demand that they should be unsealed to the nations: and who have such means of unsealing them as the Clergy of Britain?

Does not the rapid progress of the Missionaries at Serampore, and of others, clearly prove that this great work is practicable? Two or three men, unknown 10 literary fame, have, in a few years, furnished India with a part of the Scriptures, in many of her Dialects: and the individual exertions of the revered Martyn, in a still smaller portion of time, have supplied two standard Versions of the New Testament, in the languages of very extensive regions: and others are following these examples. The practicability, therefore, of the design is unquestionable. The duty is, I think, equally plain.

Should it be asked, "Is there a necessity for such a work?" it may be answered, Lift up your eyes, and look upon the fields; for they are white already to the harvest.

The extraordinary spirit of inquiry in the East; the demand and eager perusal of the Scriptures where they are to be obtained; the manifest decay of Mahometanism; in short, the shaking of the nations, seems loudly to proclaim, that the Lord of Hosts mustereth the host to the battle.

The difficulty to be overcome, in the study of Languages necessary for such an undertaking, should not present itself as an obstacle to the soldier of Jesus Christ. He has enlisted under a Captain, who was surrounded with difficulties; and has entered on a post, to be maintained only by a continued warfare.

But the difficulty is not so great as is generally imagined. The time and patience usually bestowed on the first two Books of Euclid would furnish a learner with a sufficient stock of Arabic Grammar, to enable him to construe a Chapter in the Arabic New Testament, or a Surat of the Koran with the assistance of a translation. And this is, perhaps, one of the most difficult languages of the East; and is certainly the key to many of them. I do not mean to assert, that continued perseverance is not necessary in such a case: every one knows that the study of Languages peculiarly requires such perseverance. All I mean here to affirm is, that the elementary parts are less difficult than is generally supposed; and much easier than those of other pursuits, which may have less exalted objects in view.

Many, no doubt, suppose, from the encouraging accounts every day received from the East, that nothing re

mains to be done *.

This is erroneous. These are only happy beginnings. They are the seed-time of a harvest yet to be gathered: for, although the New Testament is already translated into most of the dialects of the East, the Old is completed in but few, though in progress in many.

*The whole continent of Africa, except Ethiopia and Egypt, has never seen the Scriptures in its native tongues. The Gospel of St. Matthew, translated by the Rev. G. R. Nyländer into the Bullom Language, just received by the Church Missionary Society, and about to be printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society, is the first book of the Scriptures ever translated, except as above, into the native tongues of that continent. Equally destitute are the immense tracts of Tartary, of New Zealand, of the South Sea Islands, &c.

Besides, these Translations must stand in need of ample revision, which must be executed by Scholars no less persevering than the Translators themselves. This has been the case in all those versions which are now considered as nearest to perfection. What was the Vulgate before the days of St. Jerome, or our own Translation at the time of Wickliffe? And these, as we know, are still capable of improvement. And in these cases, the Translators had greater advantages than can be supposed to have existed in India.

The Arabic Translation of the Scriptures now in circulation, largely partakes of such imperfections; and would be an ample field, worthy the exertion of the very best Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic Proficient; wherein many inaccuracies of diction might be corrected, and many Evangelical Truths, now obscured, or falsely translated, might be brought to light.

The Hindoostanee Translation of the New Testament made by Mr. Martyn, which has lately arrived from India, and which justifies the high opinion long entertained of

t

The following are a few out of the very many errors that might be noticed in this translation :-Gen. xlix. 10: The rod shall not fail from Judah, nor the precept from beneath his command, until He shall come, who is to himself, and to him shall the peoples be gathered."-Ib. 24: "Thence the Shepherd, the person of Israel."-Num. xxiii. 10: “ And let my end be like theirs."-Num. xxiv. 27: "I shall see an affair, but it is not present now.”—Isa. ix. 6: “ And his name shall be called, the Angel of the great Counsel, Wonderful Counsellor of God, Potent Ruler, Leader of Salvation, Father of a Future Age; for I will cause salvation to descend on the heads, salvation and peace to them.”—Isa, lii. 11 : "From the fatigue of his soul, to cause light to appear unto him; and he shall strengthen him in understanding, to justify the just, and he shall do good to many."-Dan. ix. 26: "The anointing shall be eradicated." For: "The Messiah shall be cut off."-Rom. ii. 2: "For we know in truth, that the judgment is against those who do these things; for it is to God."-Rom. ii. 6: The recompenser of every one like his works."-Ib. 26: "That he may be just, and the purifier of him who is already become of the faith of Jesus."-Rom. iv. 5: "And believes in him who purifies the Hypocrite."-1Tim. i. 10: The word "Menstealers” is omitted, as has been before observed; but is retained in the version printed at Leyden by Erpenius. This version is, on many accounts, preferable to that printed in the London Polyglott, and is therefore, better adapted for circulation.